Safe
by bryophyta-lumut-hati
Summary: Friday the thirteenth and a full moon were never a good combination. Doumeki didn't like how lonely and scary Watanuki's apartment seemed to be.


Disclaimer: xxxHOLiC is CLAMP's. This is based on wild imagination of mine and I don't get any financial profit out of this.  
Warning: unbeta-ed and I only manage to do some checks using free online grammar check. Feel free to correct me.  
DouWata because it was so canon in my eyes, and because I love lonely Watanuki.

* * *

Doumeki didn't expect Watanuki's apartment to be like this.

It was neat and tidy, which was typical Watanuki. It consisted of a living room, a kitchen with a small table for three, two bedrooms—one larger than the other with the smaller one occupied, and a bathroom. The apartment was small but it was big enough for someone who was living on his own. He glanced around the living room. The room was spotless, and he could see a glance of seals on the wall, covered by cupboards and chairs.

The apartment was bright. He decided not to question why Watanuki didn't switch the light off as he went to sleep, probably an act of protecting himself from the darkness and what lurks within it.

Doumeki pondered on why he was inside his friend's (or rival, Watanuki had said) apartment without the boy's permission. He remembered receiving a phone call from Yuuko, who mentioned about the day being Friday the thirteenth and a full moon and suggested him to go check on Watanuki, since spirits are much more powerful on nights of full moon, Friday the thirteenth especially. Maybe it was the reason why the bespectacled boy looked so bothered (and haunted) at school today. The spare key to Watanuki's apartment had magically appeared inside his school bag, and he wasn't going to question how. It was Yuuko, after all.

So here he was, inside the genius cook's house, without permission whatsoever from the owner of said house.

The archer continued to glance around the so-called 'home' of Watanuki Kimihiro. Something was off. The night was cold but upon entering this place, the coldness became different. It was strange and made him felt isolated. Sure, the place was nice and clean. But as comfortable as the apartment may seem to other people, it didn't feel homey. He hated the aura of loneliness that radiated throughout the entire apartment. He wasn't sure if he'll be able to live in a place as cold and lonely as this. He thought he heard some scratching outside the walls, but it could be just his imagination and dismissed it. Or maybe it was a cat.

He began to wonder Watanuki's daily lives of living here, how he—somehow—grew up in this place he called managed to call home, alone.

Walking towards the occupied bedroom, he spared a glance to the kitchen where his lunch was usually made by Watanuki. It looks more comfortable than the living room if one was to ignore the seals on the walls and windows. He continued walking until he reached the bedroom door, surprised when he found out that it wasn't locked. After reassuring himself that this was a right thing to do even though barging to one's house without permission was illegal, he opened the bedroom door only to witness a painful, heartbreaking scene before him.

In the middle of the small bedroom lay Watanuki, curled up inside his futon, hands clutching for dear life to what seemed to be an amulet. To his right was a jar of salt and to his left was his glasses. There were seals all over the room—the windows, the door, the walls, even the ceilings had some. The curtains were closed tightly and Doumeki swore he saw something like a pin to prevent them from opening. The blanket covered his body up to his chin, but his hands which were holding the amulet was right in front of his face. He was sleeping, but his red, puffy, tightly clenched eyes told Doumeki that it had been a struggle for him to finally be able to sleep.

Despite the amorous amount of seals the room had, Doumeki could clearly feel the inhuman presence outside the windows. He could also heard some scratching, and now that he heard it twice he was sure that it wasn't a cat. He approached Watanuki's sleeping form, noticing that the scratching on the outside walls began to dissipate little by little the more he got closer to Watanuki.

Doumeki sat down beside him and stroked Watanuki's soft black hair, relieved when he noticed that the boy had relaxed a bit under his touch.

"Idiot," he whispered. "You could've just ask for help."

Watanuki was too stubborn for his own good. He was too embarrassed to just seek help from Doumeki, to tell him that he needed someone to be with him just this one night. He had also refused to stay at Yuuko's shop, claiming he had some homework and the books he needed were in his apartment.

Doumeki noticed that there were some space in Watanuki's futon which was enough for him, so he sneaked there and wrapped Watanuki in an embrace, the unfortunate boy becoming more and more relaxed as the grip around the amulet loosened. The scratching noise outside were gone, but he could still feel the inhuman presence. Even though he wasn't powerful enough to shoo them away completely, he managed to make some sort of protection and the spirits weren't able to get too close to the apartment.

He realized completely that Watanuki would kill him in the morning for entering his house without permission and sneaking up on him in his sleep like a pervert, but he didn't care in the slightest. Watanuki was safe around his arms and that was all he needed to know before drifting off to sleep.


End file.
